The present invention relates generally to video surveillance systems and more particularly to video surveillance systems for fraud investigation, fraud deterrence, and customer interaction in financial, retail, and other transactions.
Financial institutions and retail outlets, both large and small, suffer very large financial losses due to check fraud, credit card fraud, and fraud from other financial instruments at the checkout or bank teller stations.
To date, it has been very difficult for fraud investigators to solve these non-violent crimes because the only tools available have been those used for violent crimes such as robbery, customer disturbances, etc. In fact, attempted use of such tools, such as Closed Circuit Television (“CCTV”) system photo images, have been discounted or disallowed in courts because the photos have been from distances too far away to provide positive identification or have not used “zoom” cameras to capture high resolution photo-images sufficient for identification. CCTV photo-images (photographs) often provide a general description of perpetrators, but are rarely suitable for clear identification. Cameras on back walls and ceilings do not show the detail needed for a identification and are often at the wrong angles. Perpetrators often disguise themselves or hide below baseball caps and wigs to cause further identity confusion. Therefore, for many fraud investigations, photo images from violent crime or shoplifting investigation systems are not even reviewed.
A useful and significant element of a personal transaction is the time that a client or customer, or perhaps a perpetrator of a crime, must wait for the transaction to be completed, whether the transaction is occurring at a checkout or point of sale terminal, at an automated teller machine, at a bank teller window, drive-up window, or other such transaction location. This time period usually occurs while the checkout clerk or teller is completing the transaction. Today, this time period is not usually used by retailers, banks, or others to provide overt marketing messages, news, individual customer loyalty messages, or other information to the waiting customer. And such customer may be a perpetrator of fraud or other crime.
Thus the need exists for systems at such transaction points that can both obtain images of sufficient quality for positive identification and utilize the time period a customer or perpetrator must wait for a transaction to complete so as to obtain better images of potential crime perpetrators. Advertising, news, loyalty messages (interactive or not), or other information can use the transaction time to attract or divert the attention of a perpetrator to aid in providing better images of subjects by causing the subject to turn and/or tilt his/her head for additional mages at other angles. Such photo images will aid in identification.